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Match Report
by Laurence Reade
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page Oxford United 0 vs Leyton Orient 2 (Tate, Harris) United ensured that the Tuesday evening hoodoo continued by producing their most inept performance of the season. Hunter replaced the injured McNiven in defence, and the game quickly degenerated into a terse midfield battle. United were sitting far too deep once again, so Scott and Basham spent long periods isolated. I took 13 minutes for United to mount a meaningful attack, a Scott flick on found Basham but Morris was able to save comfortably. A superb move allowed Orient to take the lead in the 17th minute. The ball was accurately played from the midfield out to Lockwood on the left. He was able to cross without a challenge coming in and Tate rose unmarked to head into the bottom right corner. Orient immediately put, as many players as possible behind the ball and United were utterly incapable of stringing sufficient passes together to find a way through. Basham headed square to try to pick out Scott when an attempt on goal would have been more appropriate. The ball as far as United were concerned was a hot potato and frustration rapidly set in. Possession was squandered too easily, and the team seemed too slow on the uptake. An example of this was when Morris spilt a Savage shot from the edge of the box, but no one had the gumption to follow up. United best chance fell in the 27th minute when a curling Savage cross was meet by a Basham header, and Morris did well to tip the ball round the back post for a corner. As the half went on United began to press more but the general distribution remained poor. Hunters ball, into the box squeezed through to Basham but he blasted over from 8 yards. Atkins sent the side out early for the second half but crucially neglected to alter the formation. Spurred, United continued to press with a Basham cross from the left being cleared by Hutchings with some difficulty, but gradually Orient came back into the game. Atkins readied Steele and Hackett but for reasons best known to him delayed making the substitution. That hesitation was to cost United dearly as on 54 minutes Orient extended their lead. The ball was crossed long from the right by-line and Harris bombed forward to nod in unopposed. Chants of Boring Boring Atkins were clearly audible as Tate got between Crosby and Woodman but the keeper was able to nick the ball off of his head. The substitutions were then quickly made as the formation moved to 4 4 2, but United had a mountain to climb. Crosby and Thorpe got involved in a minor spat for which both were booked, and it became obvious that United's best chance of salvation lay with belting the ball over the top for Louis to chase and the occasional bit of space that Steele could exploit. He fired wide from the right but for the majority of the time there was no one in position to benefit from his work. Orient used every trick to waste as much time as possible, every tackle resulted in a lengthy stoppage for treatment but a fair summation of United's day was when Hunters attempted long throw spilled pathetically for a goal kick. The boos at the final whistle were as predictable as the performance was poor.
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